TREATY SERIES, NO. 509 


CONVENTION 

BETWEEN THE 

UNITED STATES AND JAPAN 


ARBITRATION 


SIGNED AT WASHINGTON, MAY 5, 1908 
RATIFICATION ADVISED BY THE SENATE, MAY 13, 1908 
RATIFIED BY THE PRESIDENT, AUGUST 19, 1908 
RATIFIED BY JAPAN, JULY 20, 1908 

RATIFICATIONS EXCHANGED AT WASHINGTON, AUGUST 24, 1908 
PROCLAIMED, SEPTEMBER 1, 1908 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1908 



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By the President of the United States of America. 

A PROCLAMATION. 

TV hereas a Convention between the United States of America and 
the Empire of Japan, providing for the submission to arbitration of 
all questions of a legal nature or relating to the interpretation of 
treaties, which may arise between the two countries and which it 
may not have been possible to settle by diplomacy, was concluded 
and signed by their respective Plenipotentiaries at Washington on 
the fifth day of May one thousand nine hundred and eight, the 
original of which Convention, being in the English and Japanese 
languages, is word for word as follows: 

The President of the United States of America and His Majesty 
the Emperor of Japan, taking into consideration the fact that the 
High Contracting Parties to the Convention for the pacific settle¬ 
ment of international disputes, concluded at The Hague on the 
29th July, 1S99, have reserved to themselves, by Article XIX of 
that Convention, the right of concluding Agreements, with a view 
to referring to arbitration all questions which they shall consider 
possible to submit to such treatment, have resolved to conclude an 
Arbitration Convention between the two countries, and for the 
purpose have named as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say: 

The President of the United States of America, Elihu Root, 
Secretary of State of the United States of America; and 

His Majesty the Emperor of Japan, Baron Kogoro Takahira, 
Shosammi, Grand Cordon of the Imperial Order of the Rising Sun, 
His Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United 
States of America; 

Who, after having communicated to each other their Full Powers, 
found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon and concluded 
the following Articles:— 

Article I. 

Differences which may arise of a legal nature, or relating to the 
interpretation of treaties existing between the two Contracting 
Parties, and which it may not have been possible to settle by diplo¬ 
macy, 'shall be referred to the Permanent Court of Arbitration 
established at The Hague by the Convention of the 29th July, 1899, 
provided, nevertheless, that they do not affect the vital interests, 
the independence, or the honor of the two Contracting States, and 
do not concern the interests of third parties. 

Article II. 

In each individual case the High Contracting Parties, before 
appealing to the Permanent Court of Arbitration shall conclude a 
special Agreement defining clearly the matter in dispute, the scope 

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of the powers of the Arbitrators, and the periods to be fixed for the 
formation of the Arbitral Tribunal and the several stages of the 
procedure. It is understood that such special agreements will be 
made on the part of the United States by the President of the United 
States by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereo . 

Such agreements shall be binding only when connimec y 
two Governments by an Exchange of Notes. 

Article III. 

The present Convention shall remain in force for the period of five 
years from the date of the exchange of the ratifications. 

Article IV. 

The present Convention shall be ratified by the High Contracting 
Parties, and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged at V ash- 

ington as soon as possible. . . , • 

In witness whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed 

the present Convention, and have thereunto affixed thyirseals. 

Done at the City of Washington, in duplicate, this fifth day ot 
May, one thousand nine hundred and eight, corresponding to tiie 
fifth day of the fifth month of the forty-first year ot Meiji. 

[seal] Elihu Root 

[seal] K. Takahira 

And whereas the said Convention has been duly ratified on both 
parts and the ratifications of the two governments were exchanged 
m the City of Washington, on the twenty-fourth day of August, one 

thousand nine hundred and eight; 

Now therefore, be it known that I, Theodore Roose\elt, President 
of the United States of America, have caused the said Convention to 
be made public, to the end that the same and every article and clause 
thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United 

States and the citizens thereof. . . , ,, 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the 

seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the City of Washington this first day of September m the 
year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and eight, and 
[seal] of the Independence of the United States of America the 
one hundred and thirty-third. 

Theodore Roosevelt 

By the President: 

Alvey A. Adee 

Acting Secretary of State. 

[Japanese text not printed.] 


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